Research Associate

Justin Gregg received his doctorate from the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin in Dublin Ireland in 2008. He has been a research associate with DCP since 2004, assisting with data collection on Bimini for 2004 and leading the field research on Mikura Island for the 2005, 2006 and 2007field seasons. Justin is originally from Vermont, but has lived many years abroad including Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands. He obtained a BA in linguistics from the University of Vermont in 1998 and studied Sound Engineering and Music Technology at the Sound Training Centre in Dublin Ireland before beginning his PhD studies in 2004. In the intervening years, he worked a multitude of odd jobs (as holders of bachelors degrees in liberal arts are apt to do), including: video game tester, beekeeper, jingle writer, zipper counter, futon maker, insurance salesman, web designer, writer, folk musician, radio comedian, and cartoon voice-over artist . He supplied starring voices for the feature length animated film The Ugly Duckling and Me and Thor, the Edda Chronicles, and writes the Science Duck blog. Justin has been fascinated by marine mammals since his childhood; adopting a humpback whale named Stub when he was 8, a picture of whom hung above his bed for many years. Through the study of psychology, Justin found a way to combine his love of languages and language with his interest in marine mammal behavior. His doctoral researchfocused on how echolocation use may be related to a dolphin's ability to comprehend referential signaling - an important building block for complex communication systems and an indispensable component of human language.